Blind
by NAPPA
Summary: How oblivious are Harry and Hermione to the "obvious". Why do people think that Harry and Hermione should be together, but they deny anything like that. Don't read if you have read Septanic Dueling 41 & 42. This is a stand alone version of those chapters


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**Blind**  


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~Imran ----------- Real name. HarryNZ, you can do a proper evil Cameo now   
(Formerly Nappa..... still having trouble sighing his own name)  


This is part of my fic **Septanic Dueling** (_http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=476423_), but you should have no trouble following it without reading that fic :) 

  
  
  
  
By the time Harry and Hermione had arrived for their breakfast, the door had already been closed to the rest of the school. Student's waiting out side were trying to cast all sorts of charms that would let them see what was going on inside the room – without any apparent success.   
  
" Let's go to the kitchen." Suggested Harry. " I want to see if Winky is back."   
  
Hermione nodded before curiosity got the better of her and asked, " Why do you want to know if Winky is back? You've been asking that for a while now."   
  
" Erm… you're not going to like this…" Harry said looking rather afraid of Hermione's reaction.   
  
" What won't I like?" she said, hands on her hips, almost as if she knew that Harry was going to say something that was going to upset her immensely.   
  
" I talked it over with Professor Dumbledore, and... well... he agrees that this is the best thing for Winky."   
  
" What is?"   
  
" Err… Winky will have a new master and family to serve…"   
  
" You did what!" Hermione crossed the distance between them grabbed onto his shirt and pushed him to the wall. " What right did you have to do that? You had no right!"   
  
Harry knew for a long time that Hermione might react that way and had come up with a plan to counter her arguments. Hermione's hands were gripping the front of his shirt and she did not look like, she was about to let them go.   
  
Harry brought up his hands and covered hers, before he applied pressure so that Hermione would let him go. " That hurt!" she said sputtering in anger as she tried to let go of the shirt. The efforts to extricate her hands, so that she may tend to hurt palm, was stopped. Harry kept holding them – making it impossible for her to move her hands. " … Let go of my hands. Let them go, Harry."   
  
" No." Harry's voice carried the iron resolve Harry had gotten – it came from almost ten month of thinking nothing more than how and whhat he would do when he got back to the future. " Winky is hurt and she's going to hurt someone or herself, because she has no master right now –she's totally out of control. She can't be trusted without a master. She runs away from Hogwarts every few days – Dobby can't send others out to look for her everyday. If she had a master, she would be duty bound to serve them… She'll be happy and the master of the house would be happy."   
  
Harry paused slightly to see if Hermione's face had the expression that he wanted. One that said she was willing to listen but only found her staring blankly at him as she tried to get her hands out of his grip. For some reason, the idea to knee him in the groin and then get out did not occur to her. Harry shook his head and continued, knowing that she was at least listening.   
  
" Hermione, We've arranged Mrs. Weasley to be her new master." Harry saw her face light up in understanding. " You know how much work she does in a day – even with all the magic – it's a lot of work for her. This way she's happy and Winky is too. Because it's the Weasley's, you can trust in the fact that they won't make Winky hurt herself, just because she did not manage to do something perfectly." Harry let go of Hermione's hands. Harry kept speaking when Hermione did not move from her position, " Mrs. Weasley has also agreed to give her freedom when Winky is well enough. She's also paying Winky two sickles a month, not much – but that's all she can afford to give her – even with Percy's new job. It's all if she come to work for Mrs. Weasley."   
  
Hermione leapt at him and enveloped him in a bone-crushing embrace. Just as Harry thought, how did he get such strong arms, before Hermione broke his chain of thought. " What about the holiday pay?"   
  
Harry snorted out in laughter, realising, Hermione had just accepted the idea as a good one and it has her full approval - well almost as much as she was willing to give. " Depends on Winky and if she goes to work for her." Hermione kept hugging him and it was getting uncomfortable for Harry to be hugged for that long. " Umm… Hermione?"   
  
" What?" she asked softly in Harry's chest, it felt to Harry that she was trying to bury herself in there.   
  
Why do the houseelves matter so much to her, he thought, before asking, " Could you let me go now? It's becoming hard to breathe."   
  
Hermione blushed and jumped back from Harry. " Sorry. Didn't mean to… I didn't think, anyone cared so much about the houseelves."   
  
Harry came closer and put a hand on her shoulder. " You know I do. So does Ron." Hermione made a face at him. " You know he does…" he assured her. " You think everyone treats the houseelves as bad as the Malfoys. So you think my giving all of them their freedom, they would make them happy. But not all of the masters are terrible. Ron can see that the houseelves love to serve and he thinks that they should be allowed to live like they do now, because that way they are happy."   
  
" Maybe." She said sounding unconvinced. " Or maybe he just wants one for himself so he wont's have to clean his room." She move her hand dismissively " Anyway… Will you help me campaign for S.P.E.W. this year?" she asked looking hopefully at him.   
  
" Erm… can I get back to you on that one?" Harry grinned sheepishly, not wanting to really say no or yes – but most importantly he was not sure which side he was in. In one hand he wanted the houseelves happy on the other, he wanted them not to be mistreated. He was not sure if total freedom or total servitude was the answer.   
  
" Sure." Hermione stood shoulder to shoulder and wrapped her right arm around Harry's left and rested her head on his shoulder. " Let's go."   
  
Though Harry was surprised by her move – in fact he had been very surprised after returning from Morocco, how much more Hermione seemed to hug him. Ron had gotten his fair share as well. Especially, just before going off to sleep, she would give him a hug. Harry's lasted for less time – which he attributed to her knowing how embarrassed he got getting hugged or kissed. _That's the reason she kissed me on the cheek and teased about Alicia – she's going to keep doing this to get me embarrassed._ As sure and as reasonable that sounded, this Hermione was different than the one that he had with him going to Morocco. _Probably because of the whole Nundu incident (where the cat like creature had attacke the city and almost brought about the death of millions of muggles, muggle borns and halfblood people)_, he thought,_ If she thinks that'll embarrass me, then she has another thing coming_.   
  
" Yes. Lets." Said Harry.   
  
It took them two minutes to reach the portrait to the kitchen. While Harry checked if anyone was in the corridor, Hermione tickled the pear on the fruit picture and the secret entrance was revealed… not only that, but there was two people in there already. Two neither Harry nor Hermione thought would see together there. Doing what they were doing…   
  
" What're you doing here?" asked Harry to the Neville.   
  
" She dragged me in here…" said Neville slightly startled.   
  
" Don't talk. We're on a tight schedule." Said Pansy, before she got distracted by one of the elves. " Hey you!" she made a run for a small houseelf with bandage around it's head. "I told you to get me some Grape juice… not grape juiced. Go and get me the right one."   
  
" Sorry Mam. I be going bashing my head in the oven door…"   
  
" What?" she sounded very outraged. " Hey! Who told you to do that? I told you to get me the juice. That's what I want – so go get it for me."   
  
Hermione looked oddly at Pansy for a second as she walked over to the large tray that was being set up with a large amount of food.   
  
" You want to join S.P.E.W?" Hermione asked retrieving a small badge out of her pocket and holding it out.   
  
" Hell. No!" she said, looking disgusted at the thought.   
  
" You like the houseelves though…" sputtered Hermione in confusion.   
  
" Look Granger, I don't know what planet you are on now, but I don't like the houseelves. Okay? Now if you'll excuse me, miss perfect, I think I'll go take Neville here for his Transfiguration exercises – you Gryffindors are all useless."   
  
" But you made sure that Houseelf didn't hurt himself. You ca…"   
  
" You've gone off your rocker, Granger. I didn't do anything for the elf. I only looked out for my interests and it was in my interest that that elf did get me the food that I wanted. If that thing got any more hurt, then I would never have had the grape juice…"   
  
" Okay. It's my mistake." Said Hermione, but she slipped the button in her cloak pocket nonetheless, totally not seen or even felt by anyone one in the room.   
  
" You should be. One would think that with a brain as big as yours, you would know that I could not care less if the houseelf decided to kill it's self." She turned and found Neville talking to Harry. " Longbottom. Get your lazy bum here and take this tray."   
  
Hermione would have had said something, but Neville did not seem to mind taking the tray, but did look apprehensive that he would have to leave Harry and Hermione to spend time with Pansy – alone.   
  
Harry patted Neville on the back and moved out of the way, to let them through.   
  
" Where were they going?" asked Hermione, once the odd "couple" had left.   
  
" Apparently Professor McGonagall told the pair, they were behind on their transfiguration work, and the have been given a joint project to make up for it. They only have the next three days."   
  
" You mean as long as the Quidditch commentator tryouts are happening?"   
  
Harry nodded, before seeing Dobby coming out from on of the small doors on the side of the room. " Hullo there." Said Harry in a cheery voice.   
  
" Harry Potter come to see Dob……" started Dobby but stopped when he saw Hermione standing next to Harry. Though she looked different from before, since her haircut, he still recognised her, " oh! Harry Potter has his honey back? I be getting drinks – pumpkin juice?" he said running off deep into the kitchen, with out waiting for an answer.   
  
Harry felt a poke on his shoulder. " Honey? What did he mean by honey?"   
  
Harry could feel his cheeks start to burn, " It's kind of embarrassing, but Dobby think that…" Harry stopped, unable to get himself to say the words.   
  
" What? Harry… what?"   
  
Hermione felt that Harry was hiding something and for the life of her, she could not work out what. It was driving her insane. She was normally very patient – more so than the average witch. But even she had her limits. She knew Harry well, and she knew how to get information out of him. After all that time spent in the school, all those adventures you can't help but find out little quirks about the other persons your are close to.   
  
She knew Ron to be an open book. Ron always spoke his mind. He did not hide things from others. Thought those are the qualities that Hermione liked, they were also qualities that she despised. She often wished Ron would know when to speak and when not to.   
  
Harry was different. He preferred to think and keep his feeling inside bottled up. He knew when to speak and when to keep quite. Sometimes she felt, Harry knew the old adage about letting people guess what you are thinking rather than saying something to confirm that you're an idiot. Hermione knew well how to get information out of Harry.   
  
" So, are you going to tell me?"   
  
Harry looked as if he was wishing the ground to open up and kindly take him in there or perhaps face a Dementor rather than answer the question. Normally, that face would have had made Hermione ask him not to answer, but this was different. It was something that related to her as well.   
  
To speed up the process, Hermione decided to take a few steps in the direction that Dobby had left. She had not taken two full steps, when Harry grabbed her arm – a bit more tightly she had envision him doing so, but it was something that she had predicted.   
  
" No, Wait!" said Harry, coming to the realisation, if the information did not come from his mouth, then she might misunderstand his reasons for not saying. He, after all, was reluctant to tell her.   
  
Hermione turned, as a slight smile graced her lips. " So? What is it that Dobby meant, that you could not bring yourself to say it?" she blinked twice rapidly, the way she did when she was very curious.   
  
" Erm…," Harry started, " Dobby seems to have the idea that you're my girlfriend."   
  
Hermione looked, almost as horrified as the time, she had contemplated what Alicia's threat could mean. A dance with a Malfoy – even the thought sent her shudder down her spine.   
  
Harry thought that her shudder was something that he said. Even when you are not interested in a girl, if they shudder at the thought of dating you, you tend to get a bruised ego. " What? Am I really that bad?"   
  
Hermione became concerned. " No! No, Of course not! It's just that…" She started to laugh, making it even worse for Harry. She already knew that Harry thought of her as a friend and he had made it perfectly clear when he told her about his unwanted detour into past while he was thrown back in time.   
  
Harry was confused. " I mean, you tensed up like, I was Malfoy!"   
  
Hermione snapped her head up real quick. It seemed to her, may be Harry was developing some kind of mind reading power. A terrifying thought, but one that had a big possibility of being true. Harry's list of powers from day one had just gotten bigger and there seems to be no end in sight. Ability to talk to Dragons – albeit they had to start it, the multiple Animagi, magical Animagi, parseltongue, AstralProjection, ability to do magic that's years beyond Hogwarts (healing spell and the Patronus), accidental magic (too much of it) and the prowess with a staff. Hermione was not sure how good Harry was with it, but he had to be really good for the populous of the largest muggle born magic city to think of him as a legend.   
  
" I'm sorry. I'm just thinking about Malfoy and Rita Skeetar and the mess they made my life last...err.. your and my 4th year." It was not a lie as she did think that, after she thought about Harry's powers.   
  
" Oh..."   
  
" Well, what makes half the people in the school think I'm in love with you and what about the other half that thinks that I'm in love with Ron, I mean –"   
  
Harry interrupted her, " Did you do a survey?"   
  
She had an involuntary flash of what had happened before, when she went to take the Marauder's map & the invisibility cloak, from Harry's trunk and accidentally overheard the Dean and Seamus's conversation.   
  
" Don't be silly, for your information, Parvati told me!"   
  
It hurt her to lie like that, but she could not tell him about her visit to see him in the hospital wing to see him, while he was injured. She had not taken Ron with her, because she was not sure how would react to her wanting to see him alone. To apologise to him for her mistake - for doubting him. It would be too embarrassing and the way that Harry was satisfied.   
  
Hermione, herself was a bit surprised how quickly her mind had found the perfect reason to know this information. It came to her as a relief, when Harry did not question her source.   
  
" As I was saying, so, what if before this year, I just had only two friends and both of them were male of the species? You're both my best friends, but I'm not in love with either of you – no more than I'm in love with Parvati –" as soon as she had said it, she felt an overwhelming urge to clarify herself.   
  
It was because of what her mother said to her a while ago. Something along the lines of how dirty boys' minds can be, regardless of age, place or situation. " Don't you even dare think about making a comment on that! –" she said, bending forward slightly, waving her finger in front of Harry, while her another hand remained firmly on her hip – making her look like a younger version of Professor McGonagall.   
  
A rather disturbing thought for Harry. " I didn't say anything." Harry Protested, but he grinned at her, making her face redden slightly and think that she had thought right and Harry had been indeed thinking along those lines.   
  
Though the revelation, that some of the boys might have a crush on him, had come as a surprise, he was not ignorant of relationships of those kind. He had always thought that a person should be free to choose whom ever they want to spend their lives with. He did not care for that lifestyle, but he saw no reason why two people whose want to indulge in such a thing be prevented from doing so.   
  
He, like _all_ other boys in his age group, would not have had turned down an opportunity to see two women together. He was not fond of the idea of male-male relationship, but he was not going to try and make everyone fit in with what he wanted. _That's Voldemort's job_, he thought. He sighed mentally, thinking of how everything he now thought, after the 4th year, always somehow ended up something about Voldemort.   
  
" You were going to."   
  
" There's nothing wrong with that Hermione." Harry said softly, the tone resembling Ron's a lot, though it did not sound serious enough to her, to be like his.   
  
" I knew it." She said slightly fuming over Harry's comment, " All boys are alike." She folded her hands on her chest. " Harry James Potter, I expected better from you."   
  
Harry looked horrified that Hermione thought he was being serious, " Fullname... Hermione I was just joking. You didn't really think I thought THAT did you?" He emphasised the word 'that' " I was just teasing you back for, teasing me about Alicia."   
  
Hermione looked flustered that she had not recognise the tone being a teasing one. SHe was usually very good at picking that one out. " I knew that!" she said it, but even she had a hard time believing herself.   
  
To her relief, Harry did not go back on that topic again. Hermione switched the topic back to people and why they assume things, when Dobby burst back in to the room – carrying two rather long glasses of light orange coloured drinks (Pumpkin Juice) – both with a thin slice of lemon on the rim. " Thank you, Dobby." Hermione said, kneeling down slightly to pat him, as she took one of the glasses.   
  
Dobby then said something that made Hermione spit out her drink and Harry almost laughed the bit in his mouth, out through his nose.   
  
" Dobby happy, Harry Potter has his honey back."   
_  
What a waste of perfectly good pumpkin juice_, thought Harry, when he recollected himself and sipped his drink. _Would be wonderful to see how she tells off an elf, for one thing, she's not going to be as aggressive as she is with people. _  
  
The thought brought a mischievous smile to his face. He moved back a bit so that he could fit in the entire scene, that would unfold before him, in the scope of his vision.   
  
As he had thought, Hermione was nice to explain why they were just friends to Dobby. On the receiving end of the lecture, Dobby looked scandalised when Hermione had said that Harry, actually liked someone else and she already had a honey (meaning Krum).   
  
Several times as Hermione had to repeat things to Dobby and each time, Harry barely stopped himself from bursting out laughing. He could see her patience running thin and her voice rising ever so slightly each passing second. Everytime she said it, Dobby asked her if she was sure. Finally, Harry decided to put an end to her misery, knowing that she would go into her old age there before giving up.   
  
Harry stepped into the conversation " Dobby," he called.   
  
Dobby stopped listening to Hermione and looked around to see where Harry was. Locating him, he quickly ran over to him. A relieved Hermione looked up and saw Harry smiling at her. She returned it with a mouthed thank you.   
  
" Harry Potter, need help?" said Dobby, brimming with pride.   
  
" Yes. I…" he clarified himself when he saw Hermione in his peripheral vision, " I mean, Me and Hermione were wondering, if Winky is back?"   
  
Dobby retrieved a notepad and looked through it and started to murmur in weird rasping and gurgling sounds.   
_  
Elves had their own language?_, though Harry wondrously, but it was a short lived thought, because Dobby started speaking.   
  
" No." He said, " But, Nitwick and Bunbun (Harry assumed that they were the two house elves that Dobby had sent for Winky.) has her. They be back day tomorrow-tomorrow."   
  
Tomorrow-tomorrow meant that the day after tomorrow, and Harry understood that.   
  
Dobby looked up from his notebook and said, " Me tell Harry Potter and his honey.." Hermione flinch slightly in the background, " ...when Winky back?"   
  
" Yes, and Professor Dumbledore too." Hermione answered as she took the place next to Harry, instead of standing behind Dobby, as she had been before.   
  
" Just give us the news of her arrival and take her to Professor Dumbledore, Okay."   
  
Dobby looked very happy to get a mission from the great Harry Potter. " Dobby do his best." Dobby then looked back and forth between Harry and Hermione, and then asked a question to Hermione. " You sure, you not Harry Potter's Honey?, Harry Potter's Honey."   
  
Before Hermione could launch into another attempt at making Dobby understand, Harry jumped in. " Do you think that you can give us some food, Dobby? We are terribly hungry, since neither of us had any breakfast. Something for lunch time too–" Harry looked at Hermione for confirmation, when she nodded, he continued, " And some drinks, too. If possible, some of this wonderful juice." He finished off shaking the glass of pumpkin juice in his hand, making ice inside rattle.   
  
Dobby nodded, before he rushed off to a other elves and gave them some orders and then he himself went to do something. They had not separated for a few seconds, when they all came rushing back carrying packets off food that looked bigger and heavier than their own bodies. Dobby filled up two trays and personally gave each of them Harry and Hermione.   
  
They both said a thank you to Dobby, before each picking up a tray of food. " Dobby here for Harry Potter and..." Dobby looked very uncertain as he said it, " his honey?" It seemed to Harry that Hermione's message was slowly getting into him. Dobby went back to work – but not before he spit cleaned his head elf badge.   


*****The END*** **


End file.
